FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — In front of the Capitol, a group with a giant mobile billboard rallied to respond to what it refers to as tobacco industry interference.
"These things cannot continue. The farther we kick this can down the road, the more kids fall prey to these illegal sales," Shannon Baker said.
Baker is among community leaders supporting Senate Bill 100 looking to hold retailers accountable for illegally selling vape products to kids in Kentucky.
"SB 100 needs to move forward without any amendments. The House needs to do their work and pass the bill, Baker added.
One of the speakers in Frankfort, Miss Kentucky's Teen 2024, believes these products are negatively impacting students' performance and academic distractions.
"It's affecting school performance and sports performance," Mallory Jones said.
Jones is emphasizing her frustration saying vaping has become the norm.
"As a high-schooler, I see every single day that people do use and abuse nicotine products in the bathrooms, in the hallways, under the stair well," Jones added.
According to statistics from the American Lung Association, high school students in Kentucky who were sold e-cigarettes from a store increased from 2021 to 2023.
Also, daily and frequent use of e-cigarettes increased during that same span despite the national rates steadying or decreasing.
"We all know these products are designed and marketed to appeal to kids with their fruity and candy flavors, their cool devices and their slick social media marketing," Ashlea Christiansen said.
Christiansen, American Heart Association Government Relations Director is making it clear.
She believes the House has an important choice: "protect kids from illegal vape sales or protect the tobacco industry's profits."
The House is expected to vote on SB 100 on Wednesday.
